Klarinet Archive - Posting 000446.txt from 1998/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] R-13 Prestige vs R-13
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 00:46:10 -0400

At 12:18 PM 8/15/98 -0500, Clark W. Fobes wrote:
> This brings me to another interesting subject regarding Buffet
>clarinets. Have you ever noticed that NOWHERE in any Buffet or Boosey &
>Hawkes literature can you find a reference to the "pitch" of Buffet
>clarinets? There is a good reason for that. Here in the US we seem to be
>intellectually stuck on the concept of playing at A@-----. If you do a lot of
>playing with piano you may actually be playing at A=440 if the piano is
>tuned at that level. However, very few orchestras really stay at that level.
>
> In fact, I have always maintained that Buffet clarinets are tuned
>closer to A@-----. If they were really tuned at
>A@-----.
>Also, with the many subtle variations to bores caused through machining
>there is a fairly wide variation in pitch among clarinets even of the same
>make. If Buffet was to actually advertise their instruments as A=440 I think
>they could be challenged. If they advertised them as A=441 they might lose
>some sales. So it is wise that Buffet not allude to any specific pitch level
>in their material.
>
Can anybody tell me why, after years of wonderful stability in pitch
standard at A=440, won at great cost over a long time, some bozos decided
to start tinkering with it again? Are instrument manufacturers so
desperate to sell new horns that they are promoting the obsolescence of the
old ones by causing them to be out of tune? Or is something else afoot?

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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